Buy a Bog – Helping children in Ghana

In 2012 Littlejohn sponsored the construction of a toilet block in a remote area of Ghana and we were pleased to learn from Doug Jones, the Project Organiser, that he visited the site again this Autumn.

Doug reports “they are well used, in good condition and appear to be being looked after very well. They are generally kept locked until children need to use them. Nearby residents aren’t allowed to use them at all and no-one can use them out of school hours. The only problem that I noticed was a lack of water in the rainwater harvesting tank, from which they are meant to wash their hands, because children had left the tap open” – the same the world over!

Situated in a remote area of the country, the village of Dompose has a population of 1400 people. Electricity only arrived to those villagers who could afford it in 2009 and there is no running water. Even more shocking the local primary and secondary school, which attracts children from a wider area and has 550 pupils had no toilet facilities at all – the children were forced to use the bushes. Littlejohn are proud to have changed that situation and it is so rewarding to know that more than 4 years on they are well used.

The project, which provided two composting style toilets for the boys and two for the girls also gives them clean, harvested rainwater to wash their hands. Not only is there a huge improvement in sanitation, but these toilet blocks, like others in nearby areas, have had great success in encouraging more of the children, particularly the teenage girls, to stay on at school to finish their education.

After 4 years in use – Autumn 2015

Another Bog bought!

Spring 2015

Whilst visiting Myanmar (Burma) earlier this year, Littlejohn founders, Bill and Pearl Gosney were taken to a school in SHWE PYI THAR Village beside the River Irawaddy, and with an eye still for toilets, they were quick to react when told by their guide that one of the school’s toilets was dilapidated and no longer in use.This meant that the children and teachers had one toilet between them.

Following discussions, they left money for a new toilet to be installed and were hugely impressed that within a month they received pictures of the new toilet in place. Using the same composting method as those Littlejohn had donated in Dompose, Ghana, the toilet structure is lightweight and built from timber and rattan.